Federal, State, and local law
enforcement officials are witnessing a growing nexus between the Mexican
drug cartels, illegal alien smuggling rings, and U.S. based gangs.The human
smuggling networks that operate along the Southwest border cannot move their
human cargo through drug cartel controlled corridors without paying a fee.
The typical Mexican illegal alien now pays approximately $1,200 to $2,500.
For aliens from countries other than Mexico this price is often considerably
higher, and may even be more alluring for the cartels. Foreign nationals are
often charged an exorbitantly higher fee ranging anywhere from $45,000 to
$60,000 per person. Indeed, it is estimated that human smuggling through
Mexico into the United States each year puts billions of dollars into
criminal hands.

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According to U.S. law
enforcement officials, tremendous incentive exists for drug cartels to
diversify their criminal enterprises to include the human smuggling trade.
Human smuggling can be more lucrative than the illicit drug trade and the
benefits far outweigh the risks for the cartels. There are many reasons for
this. Law enforcement is dealing with a different type of commodity – drugs
don’t hide themselves as humans are able. Consequently, smugglers can
transport large numbers of illegal aliens across the border at one time and
meet with some success.

Moreover, prosecutions for
human smuggling are abysmally low. Typically, groups of illegal aliens
apprehended attempting to cross the border will not identify the smuggler in
the group. For those smugglers that are identified and captured, most are
simply returned to their country of origin. Thus, there is a revolving door
for the smugglers. Since it is unlikely the smuggler will be prosecuted he
or she can opt for voluntary removal, face no criminal penalties and smuggle
again. As human smugglers charge anywhere from $2,000 to $60,000 per alien
and face little or no consequences if caught, human smuggling is a far less
risky business endeavor than the drug trade.

Federal law enforcement
officials also report that the cartels are not only increasingly
engaged in the human smuggling business, they are also actively coordinating
with existing human smuggling rings, using diversionary tactics to protect
their loads. It is not uncommon for cartels to facilitate the crossing of
fifty or more illegal aliens across the U.S.-Mexico border to divert Border
Patrol resources away from an area they plan to transport large amounts of
drugs across.

Mexican drug cartels have
also increasingly “cemented” ties to street and prison gangs on the U.S.
side. U.S. gangs retail drugs purchased from Mexican traffickers and often
work as cartel surrogates and enforcers on U.S. soil. Mara Salvatrucha,
(MS-13) is one such gang involved in the cross-border drug smuggling
business. MS-13 has established a growing presence in cities across the
United States. Law enforcement agencies in twenty-eight States have reported
MS-13 members are engaged in retail drug trafficking. Drug proceeds are
subsequently laundered through seemingly legitimate local 44 businesses.

On September 28, 2006, in Laredo, Texas, twelve gang members were
indicted in Laredo, Texas on seventeen counts of illegal drug and firearm
offenses. Charges against the defendants include engaging in a continuing
criminal enterprise, conspiracy to posses with intent to distribute cocaine,
possession of cocaine, felons in possession of weapons and possession of
weapons during and in relation to a drug trafficking crime.

All twelve defendants are believed to be members of or associated with
the Hermandad de Pistoleros Latinos (Brotherhood of Latin Gunmen) prison
gang and working for the Gulf Cartel. Federal and State officials report
that a growing number of gangs are increasingly collaborating with the major
drug cartels to facilitate cross-border smuggling of not only drugs, but
also humans.

These gangs include MS-13, Mexican Mafia, and the Texas Syndicate. In
August 2006, Mexico’s Deputy Attorney General for Organized Crime, Jose Luis
Santiago Vasconcelos, postulated these gangs are becoming increasingly more
powerful as they fill the void left by the cartels when their leadership is
arrested by the Mexican government.

In February 2005, FBI
Director Robert Mueller described U.S. based-gangs as “more organized,
more violent, and more widespread than ever.” The Department of Justice
estimates there are approximately 30,000 gangs with more than 800,000
members in the U.S. Mueller believes these violent gangs pose a
growing threat to the safety and security of Americans.

Many members of violent
street gangs are actively involved in other crimes such as rape, robbery,
and murder. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has found that
approximately half of the apprehended gang members have violent criminal
histories, with arrests and convictions for crimes such as robbery, assault,
rape and murder. This figure includes only those whose criminal histories
are known. Approximately 90 percent of U.S. MS-13 members are foreign-born
illegal aliens and depend upon the Texas-Mexico border smuggling corridor to
support their criminal operations. MS-13 members are involved in a variety
of other types of criminal activity, including rape, 52 murder, and
extortion.

The foreign nationals who
belong to these gangs often ignore Federal immigration laws, regularly
entering the United States illegally. They then travel to the nation’s
interior cities to join with other gang members and participate in criminal
activity. A Federal investigator told Committee staff of a recent interview
he conducted with an MS-13 member who described the ease with which he had
routinely traversed the Southwest border. The gang member decided to return
to his native country of Guatemala to spend Christmas with his mother. To
save his own money, he voluntarily turned himself into authorities and was
flown home at U.S. Government expense under the expedited removal program,
spent the holidays with his family, and returned by illegally crossing the
Southwest border. The gang member boasted this process is so easy he has
repeated it several times.

The Zetas are also one of the main groups smuggling illegal aliens and
drugs into the United States from Mexico. A recent FBI bulletin noted that
“FBI intelligence indicates that Los Zetas are becoming increasingly
involved in systematic corruption as well as alien smuggling, including
smuggling special interest aliens into the United States.” The Zetas wield
their control over the movement of people across the border through an
elaborate network of spies, checkpoints and use of sophisticated technology.
Some of those networks are deepening their ties to Texas cities, including
Houston and Dallas, with the help of gang members.

In 2005, law enforcement linked at least three drug related killings in
the Dallas area to the Zetas. Texas law enforcement authorities believe a
squad of Zeta members, as many as ten, might be operating inside Texas as
assassins for the Gulf Cartel. Authorities said Zetas are the cartel is
protecting nearly $10 million in daily drug transactions in Texas. also
known to have established smuggling routes in residential neighborhoods on
the U.S. 57 side of the border that are used to smuggle “high-value” illegal
aliens.